Toril Moi To Give Lecture

October 17, 2003

Toril Moi, the James B. Duke Professor of Literature and Romance Studies at Duke University, and an international authority on French feminist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, will speak at Virginia Tech on Oct. 30.

Moi will hold a public lecture from 5:30-7:00 p.m. at 1870 Litton-Reeves, and will also hold a seminar in Shanks 370 from 2:00-3:15 that afternoon. Moi is author of a famous book of feminist literary criticism, Sexual/Textual Politics, which rocked the world of academic feminist literary criticism in the U.S. in the mid-1980s. Moi is being sponsored by the Women's Studies program in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.

Moi's lecture is titled "Meaning What We Say: The 'Politics of Theory' and the Responsibility of Intellectuals." Radical theorists often ask themselves whether the writing they do, which tends to be specialized and fairly abstract, really makes a political difference. In this presentation, Moi considers two different ways of thinking about writing and political commitment, which she calls, respectively, "the demand for the absolute" and "the turn to the ordinary."

Further information is available by contacting Bernice L. Hausman, interim director of women's studies, at bhausman@vt.edu.